A film, Escape From Taliban, was based on her life and it starred Bollywood beauty Manisha Koirala

Sushmita Banerjee, an Indian woman author who wrote a popular memoir - A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife – about her escape from the Taliban has been shot dead in Afghanistan‘s Paktika province by suspected Taliban militants, police said Thursday. Married to Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan, Banerjee, 49, was killed outside her home in southeastern Paktika province. The book about her dramatic escape in 1995 became a bestseller in India and was made into a Bollywood film, Escape From Taliban, in 2003. Starring Bollywood actor Manisha Koirala, the film described itself as a “story of a woman who dares Taliban”.

Banerjee had recently moved back to Afghanistan to live with her husband. According to BBC, she was known as Sayed Kamala.

She was well-known in India for her book, which recounted her life in Afghanistan with her husband and her escape.

According to a report in the Afghanistan Times, gunmen kidnapped the woman, Sahib Kamala, Wedneday night from the Sray Kala area on the outskirts of Sharan, the provincial capital of Paktika. She was found dead on Thursday morning, said Police chief Brig Gen Daulat Khan Zadran. He said an investigation into the incident had been opened, but the killers remained at large.

Women’s Affairs Director Bibi Hawa Khoshiwal said Kamala was a volunteer health worker, who had no connection with any group or the government. Strongly condemning the kidnap-murder incident, Khoshiwal urged security organs to ensure those responsible were brought to justice.

A resident of the village, declining to be identified, said Kamala was an Indian citizen. She had been living with her husband in the Sray Kala village after their marriage. Khan married Kamala after she converted to Islam, the resident said.

On a visit to India, Kalama had inspired Indian filmmakers to make a movie based on her stories ,which depicted the women’s situation in Afghanistan, he said. He said the stories evolved around Taliban’s injustices against the gender, saying India had made the film, showing characters in Sharan, Sray Kala and the family life of Kamala.

With no Taliban spokesman immediately available for comments, he said the outrageous insurgents killed Kamala hours after her abduction, the Afghanistan Times said.

The Talaash actor will play Sher Singh Rana, who allegedly killed Phoolan Devi, in the biopic End of Bandit Queen

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui is gearing up to work on a second biopic - End of Bandit Queen – based on the life of Sher Singh Rana, prime accused in the murder of bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi in 2001. “I will start shooting for this biopic film in March 2013. It is a biopic on Sher Singh Rana. The film is tentatively titled End of Bandit Queen. We will be shooting in India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” said Nawazuddin.

Sher Singh Rana is currently lodged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail, and Nawazuddin says he will meet him soon. “I will be meeting Rana who is in Tihar Jail right now. Then I will get a clear picture about my character. So this is the only research that I will have to do to fit the bill,” said the actor, who has received critical acclaim for his work in movies like Kahaani and Gangs of Wasseypur.

End of Bandit Queen will be directed by the theatre director Barry John.

Nawazuddin recently shot for a biopic Mountain Man, on the life of Dashrath Manjhi, a Bihar-based labourer, who made a 360-foot-long road by physically cutting down a mountain.

The Khiladi 786 actor recently met with a fangirl from Afganistan who is undergoing treatment in New Delhi

Our fave Khiladi, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar seems to be quietly doing good deeds. In New Delhi recently he met a special fan from Kunduz city, Afghanistan. As reported by France 24, 18-year-old Sameera (not her real name) is the victim of a horrid acid attackon her entire family on November 28 last year, by four assailants allegedly belonging to the local militia.

The brave girl is in the Indian capital for treatment including reconstructive surgery for her face. New York- and Kabul-based NGO Women for Afghan Women (WAW) is involved in getting her to the country. The four attackers have been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment under Afghanistan’s Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women (2009).

But what made Sameera forget her ordeal for a few minutes was the presence of her fave star Akshay. Boy, aren’t we glad our Khiladi 786 could bring a smile on the teen’s face? What do you think?

Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan will reprise the iconic role of the Kabuliwala in an upcoming film based on the classic tale by Rabindranath Tagore

The iconic short story by Rabindranath Tagore about an Afghan dry-fruit seller and his love for a little girl that he ‘adopts’ as his daughter has caught the fancy of readers worldwide. It has been adapted a number of times for the big screen in the past, and at least two versions of the tale have been made famous in films. Now a third version is reportedly being planned.

Atiq Rahimi, a French-Afghan filmmaker plans to cast Amitabh Bachchan in a movie based on the popular story, and plans to base the story in a more current milieu. In the film, Amitabh will reprise the role of the Kabuliwala made famous by Balraj Sahni in the film that is to be shot in Kolkata and parts of Afghanistan next year.

And yes, though Bachchan is a veteran with decades of experience backing him, the shoes he has to fill acting-wise are huge. Sahni’s performance as Rehmat Khan the Kabuliwala was widely acclaimed and the movie became more famous than the short story! There’s also Chhabi Biswas’s interpretation; he played the original Kabuliwala in the 1957 adaptation of the story – which has also been widely acclaimed and is one of Biswas’ most famous roles to date. And although Amitabh has played an Afghan in Khuda Gawah, it is with Kabuliwala that he will get to show off just why he is called the ‘superstar’ of Indian cinema.